"I find it strange that the last place I can
really quote Jesus these days is in American
churches. They don't want to hear 'overcome evil
with good.' They don't want to hear 'those who
live by the sword die by the sword.' They don't
want to hear 'if your enemy hurts you, do good,
feed, clothe, minister to him.' They don't want
to hear 'blessed are the merciful.' They don't
want to hear 'love your enemies.'"

President Bush's speech to the nation on Sunday
night was forced upon him. He didn't ever admit
it during the speech, but continuing events in
Iraq reveal fundamental miscalculations and
multiple policy failures on the part of his
administration. Those failures have left the
White House looking out of control of the
situation in post-war Iraq, and they demanded the
speech. Instead of at least acknowledging
miscalculations on the issue of weapons of mass
destruction, the reception of the Iraqi people
to their American "liberators," the unexpected
level of resistance to American occupation, the
cost and scope of reconstruction, the American
unilateralism the has made needed international
help so difficult to obtain, and the abysmal
lack of a post-conflict plan (to name just a few),
the president just called for more "sacrifice."

But who will do the sacrificing? President Bush
asked for $87 billion more to pay for the American
occupation and reconstruction of Iraq. News
reports already reveal the comparative costs and
"sacrifices" of this enormous expenditure: The
entire proposed fiscal-year budget for the
Department of Health and Human Services is $66
billion; for the Department of Education, $53
billion. The total amount for all 50 states to
meet their projected budget shortfalls this year
is $78 billion.

Clearly, the sacrifices for the war in Iraq will
be borne by those in most need who will bear the
brunt of inevitable spending cuts to vital social
programs, and by future generations who will
ultimately pay for the record-setting deficits.
Who will bear no sacrifice is also clear - the
beneficiaries of the Bush tax cuts and the
recipients of the lucrative contracts for Iraqi
reconstruction that are going to carefully
selected American corporations. Those who will
not sacrifice, in other words, are the wealthy
and powerful allies of the Bush administration
- and their core constituency. It is not hyperbole
to say that those beneficiaries of war-time tax
cuts and contract deals should now be called war
profiteers.

So, I propose two sacrifices the Bush
administration should now make, if they expect
the rest of the nation to share in the sacrifices
of rebuilding Iraq. First, the White House should
admit its miscalculations and policy failures. And
those responsible for the failures should be the
first to sacrifice. Therefore, the chief
architects of the failed Iraqi policy - Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul
Wolfowitz, should both be asked to resign. These
chief unilateralists have presided over the policy
failures and, if a better direction of
international cooperation is to be restored in
Iraq, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz must step aside. At
least one leading member of Congress has already
called for their resignations. Religious leaders
and others should take up that call.

Second, if the White House calls for sacrifice
are to have any moral credibility, the
administration's tax cuts to the wealthiest
Americans must be immediately rescinded. Neither
the poor, nor our children and their children,
should be forced to pay for the war in Iraq, while
those with the greatest ability to sacrifice are
reaping a whirlwind of benefit. That is morally
unconscionable and the only responsible course of
action now is to repeal the egregious tax cuts.

Whether the resignations of Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz
or the repeal of the tax cuts are politically
likely at this moment (and they aren't) is not the
point. There are fundamental issues of moral
accountability here that go beyond political
calculation. And those questions of accountability
will be especially vital during an election year.

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The National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual
"Out of Reach" report, released Tuesday, shows
costs associated with renting a home are rising
as incomes are falling. The study assumes that a
family should pay a maximum 30 percent of its
income on rent and utilities. ...The affordability
gap is widening when compared to last year. The
2002 study said a typical poor family could afford
$584 a month while costs were $899. For more
information, see http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001720491_housing09m.html

Job Openings at Sojourners:

Director of DevelopmentSeeking a highly-qualified development
professional and fundraising generalist to
lead the growth of Sojourners' development
program, create and implement comprehensive
strategy, and set objectives for four development
staff. The successful candidate will have a track
record of ethical fund raising including major and
planned gift solicitation, special appeals, and
online giving; knowledge of donor databases; and
management experience.

Director of Major Gifts and Foundation
RelationsSeeking a high-energy professional to assist the
development team and the executive director in
securing major gifts and foundation grants.
Experience with major donor solicitation preferred.
Strong interpersonal skills, facility for relating
easily to donors, skills in proposal writing, and
an ability and willingness to travel frequently
required.

Grist: In the year and a half since the launch of
your PBS program "NOW," you have done extensive
reporting on the Bush administration's
environmental record. At a time when most news
outlets have focused on war and recession, you
and your team have been among the few journalists
who've consistently taken a hard look at these
policy rollbacks. What has been motivating you?

Bill Moyers: The facts on the ground. I'm a
journalist, reporting the evidence, not an
environmentalist pressing an agenda. The Earth
is sending us a message and you don't have to be
an environmentalist to read it. The Arctic ice
is melting. The Arctic winds are balmy. The Arctic
Ocean is rising. Scientists say that in the year
2002 - the second-hottest on record
http://www.gristmagazine.com/heatbeat/weather013103.asp
- they saw the Arctic ice coverage shrink more
than at any time since they started measuring it.
Every credible scientific study in the world says
human activity is creating global warming. In the
face of this evidence, the government in
Washington has declared war on nature. They have
placed religious and political dogma over the
facts.

Grist: Can you elaborate on their religious
and political dogma?

Moyers: They are practically the same. Their
god is the market - every human problem, every
human need, will be solved by the market. Their
dogma is the literal reading of the creation
story in Genesis where humans are to have
"dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the Earth, and over every creeping
thing...." The administration has married that
conservative dogma of the religious right to
the corporate ethos of profits at any price.
And the result is the politics of exploitation
with a religious impulse.

Meanwhile, over a billion people have no safe
drinking water. We're dumping 500 million tons
of hazardous waste into the Earth every year.
In the last hundred years alone we've lost more
than 2 billion hectares of forest, our fisheries
are collapsing, our coral reefs are dying because
of human activity. These are facts. So what are
the administration and Congress doing? They're
attacking the cornerstones of environmental law:
the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, NEPA [the
National Environmental Policy Act]. They are
allowing l7,000 power plants to create more
pollution. They are opening public lands to
exploitation. They're even trying to conceal
threats to public health: Just look at the stories
this past week about how the White House pressured
the EPA not to tell the public about the toxic
materials that were released by the September 11
attacks on the World Trade Center.

Grist: I'm interested in your explanation of why
- I haven't heard this dogma-based argument
before. More often, critics interpret the White
House environmental agenda as political
pragmatism, as simply an effort to stay in power
and pay back corporate contributors.

Moyers: This is stealth war on the environment in
the name of ideology. But you're right - there is
a very powerful political process at work here,
too. It's payback time for their rich donors. In
the 2000 elections, the Republicans outspent the
Democrats by $200 million. Bush and Cheney - who,
needless to say, are oil men who made their
fortunes in the energy business - received more
than $44 million from the oil, gas, and energy
industries. It spills over into Congress too: In
the 2002 congressional elections, Republican
candidates received almost $15 million from the
energy industries, while the Democrats got around
$3.7 million. In our democracy, voters can vote
but donors decide.

Call to Renewal, a national network of churches,
faith-based organizations, and individuals
working to overcome poverty in America seeks a
National Coordinator/Managing Director.
The successful candidate must understand and be
committed to the strategic vision of Call to
Renewal, have a fundamental appreciation for and
understanding of the relationship between faith
and politics, and be able to move with a high
level of competency in a variety of faith and
political communities. The National
Coordinator/Managing Director will be based in
Washington, D.C., and will function as the
chief operating officer of Call to Renewal,
working closely with the president, Jim Wallis,
and the Call to Renewal Board of Directors.
Salary negotiable within Call's modest salary
structure. Please email resume and cover letter
as soon as possible to Yonce Shelton at
yshelton@calltorenewal.com, or mail to Call to
Renewal 2401 15th Street NW Washington, D.C.
20009. No phone calls please.

As a child and as an adult, I was the victim of
bullies and helplessly witnessed the bullying of
others. At least one of the other victims and I
were taught pacifism but were unprotected by
either our families or ordinary members of the
churches, who sometimes witnessed the sadism. I
am convinced that a miracle informed another
intended victim how to escape one incident alive,
but my willingness to fight for my life saved me.

While I do not claim there is a
one-solution-fits-all solution to the question
of how young people respond to violence, adults
using scripture to advocate pacifism often forget
that the early Christians were often killed in
spite of prayers. Unless adults are actively
involved in protecting children like Donis, these
adults will seem to be telling the children that
no one thinks that it is important that they live.
I suspect that adults who do not offer to take
blows for the children are not actually pacifists
and are avoiding facing the children's reality.
With the lowering of the cost of cell phones,
children might be given them with the police and
pacifists' numbers on speed dial. The pacifists
might have a person on call 24 hours a day to
help the children face potential violence.
Without measures like that, it is likely that
these children will look to violence and gangs
as a way of staying alive.

-------------

Kevin Williams writes from Minneapolis, Minnesota:

You should rename your magazine to "Bushhaters."
All you and your readers talk about is your
hatred for the Bush administration. I've never
hear a group who claims to be so Christian spew
so much hatred.

-------------

Donna Vogelpohl writes from Sapulpa, Oklahoma:

Rik Wenger's comments in Boomerang could have
been my own. I was raised Pentacostal Assembly
of God. I think that is about as fundamentalist
as you can get, and I left that belief system
behind 20 years ago.

I really enjoy Sojourners even though I am
utterly ashamed of the term "Christian" when
I see what Bush has done to it along with the
same ilk for the last 2000 years. Jesus was
willing to die and forbid the apostles from
harming others on his behalf.... I call myself
a Jesusonian - for I truly believe in the life
and teaching of Jesus. Thanks.

I like the interfaith tone of SojoMail. In my way
(as a Christian) I am always thinking about
cultivating common ground for the major religions
- the Abrahamic ones in particular. There is one
common ground that Jews, Muslims, and Christians
in fact do agree on: that the region of
Israel/Palestine is "holy land." Believing in
equal access for all to this common heritage, I
have put up a Web site [http://www.holylandprotectorate.org]
suggesting that this region should be accorded
the same status as Antarctica, namely, a
nationality free zone. I have even crafted a
sample re-draft of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959,
substituting "Holy Land Protectorate" for
"Antarctica." The idea may be shocking to some.
It calls for evenhanded justice and tough-love
today, hopefully followed by peace for the
grandchildren tomorrow. Please have a look,
think and pray over it, and spread the word if
you agree.

Maybe we missed your point, but we were really
disappointed that Sojourners felt the need to
give voice to yet another rip on marriage [last
week's "Funny Business"]. Your choice to print
that tired old joke only helps perpetuate the
notion that marriage is good for the woman and
bad for the man. To find it in a publication
such as yours, which we have come to know and
love, is disheartening. The truth is that a good
marriage is good for the man and the woman and
is often the start of many "happiest days of our
lives." We can't speak for all married couples
but we can say that our marriage of 25 years has
been a blessing to both of us.

-------------

Anne M. Mulderry writes from Kinderhook, New York:

A sexist joke from Sojourners? How sad it makes
me to reflect upon the failure of even people
actively concerned with justice issues to fail to
recognize that marriage contracts ended/end the
chances of so many women for happiness. The
significance of the white/black contrast may be
beyond a child's understanding, but surely it
should not be beyond your editors.'

--------------------------

Boomerang is an open forum for all kinds of
views. The views expressed are not necessarily
those of Sojourners. Want to make your voice
heard? Send Boomerang e-mails to the editor:

It is now 11:59 p.m., half an hour after the
suicide bombing at Hillel Cafe.

Just the night before, my wife and I and two
of our friends were sitting at the cafe until
around 11:40 p.m. The place was packed. I can
now hear the sirens of the ambulances racing
through the streets of Jerusalem. I cannot get
the images out of my head; images of severed
arms, decapitated heads, people with nails and
pieces of iron stuck in their bodies, broken
tables, the cake and sandwich bar shattered
into thousands of pieces. What happened to the
sweet waitress who was serving us? What happened
to the young busboy? We were sitting in the
middle of the room; all those people came there
for a good time and were carried out in coffins.
Is the high ceiling still in place? The glass
wall shattered into millions of shards, covering
body parts and swimming in the blood that spilled
on the floor like water. "Shema Israel, hear O
Israel," we pray - but Israel is not listening.